Saturday, February 26, 2011

Another dangerous EPA flop at taxpayer expense--'green' homes too airtight, unhealthy, 'chemical soup.' Over to you, RGGI, Chevy

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"After spending big money to make their home energy efficient, the Hartmans now have to spend thousands more for devices that actually bring fresh air inside.
"...

2/24/11, "Too-Tight Energy-Efficient Home Traps Carbon Dioxide," WSMV TV, Nashville, Tn., Jeremy Finley

"The Environmental Protection Agency tells the Channel 4 I-Team it has concerns about air quality in some energy-efficient homes. A Murfreesboro home may explain why the government agency is worried. Price and Alison Hartman built their new home in Murfreesboro to be
  • completely energy efficient,
  • including upgraded insulation and energy-efficient windows and doors.
"We built a very energy-efficient house, a very tight house," Price Hartman said.But because it's so tight, it caused an unexpected problem.The first sign something was wrong was when the Hartmans' daughter's pet gerbils suddenly died.
within 20 minutes, they both died," Alison Hartman said.Worried now, Alison Hartman decided to buy a mouse, just to make sure there wasn't a disease passing between the animals or something wrong in the gerbil cage.
  • So they put a mouse in a new cage.
"It died, in a couple of hours," Alison Hartman said. The family called in a Hazmat team, but they found nothing. The Hartmans don't have gas heat or appliances, so there was no natural gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning. The family then brought in
  • an air quality expert, who found elevated levels of carbon dioxide in their daughter's room.
Carbon dioxide is what humans breathe out, but it can hurt or kill living things if the levels are high enough."They lost some gerbils. That's like a canary in a cave. This is not a good thing," said Victor McCauley, who is among the air quality experts who reviewed what's wrong with the Hartmans' house.McCauley described what's in the home
  • as a "chemical soup."
He said the Hartmans' energy-efficient home is too tight and not enough fresh air is getting in to help
  • remove the gases and chemical inside.
"A leaking house breathes. A new, highly insulated house, on the other hand, doesn't," McCauley said."We found that unhealthy air quality due to not enough ambient air is an issue with houses that are built very efficient," Price Hartman said.
  • The findings from the air quality experts
  • took the Hartmans by surprise,
because they all feel fine. But McCauley said if a chemically sensitive family lived in their home, it could be a big problem. "Are the super-insulated houses more harmful? To some degree, unless steps are taken to mitigate," McCauley said.
  • While the EPA doesn't have numbers of how many other people have complained about poor air quality in energy-efficient homes, it did sent the I-Team a statement reading,
"The EPA is concerned about compromised indoor air quality associated with weatherized or energy-efficient retrofitted homes." The EPA stressed that relatively tight homes must have proper ventilation.
the Hartmans now have to spend thousands more for devices that actually
  • bring fresh air inside.
"Kind of crazy that you'd take all that time and extra money on the windows and the insulation, then you have to bamboozle yourself to spend even more money," Alison Hartman said.
  • Tennessee's building code does require proper air flow in homes, and
the Hartmans' home is built to code. It's unclear why it still has the air quality issues."

-----------------------------------
7/28/10, "The secrets 10 states and Wall Street don't want you to know," by Mark Lagerkvist, NJ Watchdog (About RGGI)
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2/22/11, " Chevrolet deal drives Maine low-income weatherization," Portland Press Herald



via Tom Nelson

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